images of God

Over the Good Friday/Easter weekend I was thinking about the images we have of God and Jesus. Most of us, at least not until the book The Shack came out really had an image of the Holy Spirit. I wonder how often our images of God have become idols that allow us to keep God small so we can do our own thing and not feel as guilty as we need to, guilty enough to do the repentance thing and actually allow the Holy Spirit to change us, transform us into who we are called to be.
I wrestle with this. I read about the 'Ancient of Days' in Daniel and am filled with awe and wonder at the image we're given of this patriarch who is dressed in clothing white as snow and hair white like wool. His throne is even more amazing as it flames with fire and its wheels are all blazing with fire. Then there's that river of fire that flows out from in front of him and I go, "Wow! so cool!" This is an image of power, but as I embrace this image of God, I pass over who God is besides just a powerful eastern patriarch, that he's also like a mother hen, that he's an artist and a physician, the king and judge, but also father and friend. When I embrace an image of God I tend to make him less; more my size, someone I can handle and shape in my own image.
God tells us not to make idols and I wonder if our images of God or Jesus become mental idols. This is dangerous because our image of who God is shapes how we interpret Scripture and how we live with others. Look at how thinking about Jesus as a handsome man with blondish hair and blue eyes made, and makes, it easier to justify such evils as apartheid or anti-Semitism. Seeing God as a kindly father figure with white hair and a bit of a paunch allows us to believe that God would never really punish us for doing something wrong, after-all, his job is to forgive us right? Would this kind of a fatherly-like God really want us to carry a cross and experience suffering? This then gives us permission that when anything causes us pain, we can do almost anything to numb the pain, or to run away from the things that hurt and are hard, instead of learning how to handle these things with wisdom, grace, perseverance, and so learn character and what it means to be more like Jesus in suffering and pain.
The remedy to using images of God as a way to keep him small is to read all of the Bible, not just the parts that make us feel good or tell us what we want to hear. It means really listening to everything that Jesus taught, not just the blessings parts, but also the 'carry your cross' and 'forgiving' parts. As you fill your mind with all the images of God the Bible reveals to us, you will learn that God is always much bigger, more complex, and less tame than you could ever have imagined. It will give you the freedom to simply trust is a really big God who, for some reason way beyond our comprehension, chose to have a relationship with us.
Learn to rest in the mystery of God and life will become richer and more awe-inspiring that you could ever have thought before.

no other gods

The past few weeks for me has all been about looking ahead to the Good Friday and Easter weekend and all the extra things that go on; an extra worship service tonight, church pot-luck breakfast on Sunday (it's at 9 if you want to come!), and the whole focus on Jesus, death and resurrection and new life. Even those who seldom set foot in a church, or think about God, find it hard to not notice all this focus on Jesus. Some may even find their way into a church on Sunday because it seems the thing to do, but they come to worship God as only one of the many other gods they are following.

I wonder if on Easter, rather than focusing on the stone rolled away, we should be focusing on having no other gods before Yahweh. We have a big tendency to create gods; we so often take God's blessings and turn them into Baals. The old gods such as Thor, Zeus, Aphrodite, Freya have faded away, or at least their names have faded away except in the Marvel comics and Agents of Shield, but the power they represent is still here. We tend to make gods out of everything; eros, money, pleasure, fun, food, beauty, and the list goes on. You might protest that there really aren't other gods and say it's unfair for me to accuse you of worshipping other gods, and yes, I'll agree that other gods don't exist, that the Thors and Baals don’t really exist, but our yearning for prosperity, passionate love, power and strife still do exist today and all too often these things grab our hearts and desires more than God.

The Bible calls for you to make a choice for only one God and to worship him alone. It has to be a radical choice; it’s not both-and, but either-or. You can't choose God and continue to worship whatever else you've been chasing after. As Jesus says, “You can't have two masters.”

One thing that strikes me in the Bible is how often the people of God renewed their covenant with God. It seems as if this needs to be done regularly for our sake so that we can make our choice over again, reinforcing it each time in our hearts and lives.

Choosing God means loving God. The Jews regularly recited the Shema, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” This love is emotional, something you experience in your heart for in our love we are responding to God’s love toward us. We understand more clearly what love toward God really is when we see love as a choice. To love God means you stick with your choice. This is about faithfulness to God where nothing is allowed to come between you and God. Jesus later on tells us that love means that we keep his commandments; that we live in the way he has told us to live.

Following Jesus, embracing the Christian faith comes down to worshipping God with an undivided heart; there is no “God and ...” in your hearts; you serve and follow God alone. 
So maybe this Easter we should be covenant renewing; challenging each other to have only one God, and not a god we make, but approaching the God who loved us so much he sent his Son to die and make our promises to love him alone again as God renewed his promises to us through Jesus. Just a thought. 

the future is in His hands

It's been a while since the last post. It's good to be back. It's been a time of reflecting and looking ahead, wondering what God has in mind and where he's leading our church and my family. It's a time of transition for both our church and possibly for our family, a time of potential renewing which is both exciting and a bit anxiety provoking. It came to a head this past Sunday as the text I preached on was Revelation 5 and how heaven was looking for one who was worthy to take the scroll of creation history and open it, setting it in motion and directing it on behalf of God the Father. Jesus, the slain Lamb is found to be worthy because he was slain for the sins of the world, he purchased people for God and has established a kingdom and priests for God. He is worthy because of his obedience and his great love for his people.
I realised that, while the future of our church isn't necessarily clear in terms of what we will look like or where we will even be, there are exciting possibilities and the ability to move forward with the opportunity to do some amazing ministry here, that though as a family we are wrestling through a number of things, we can move forward in trust and with hope because Jesus is in control and, as Paul says, "works everything out for our good," whatever that may be. That doesn't mean we simply drift along trusting in God to do his thing, it means we work hard on where we are heading as a church, that as a family we pray and work out the decisions we need to make. But we can do all this with the confidence that we are not walking along, that we don't need to trust simply in our own wisdom and strength, that God will bless us as we plan and work on doing the work he has placed here for us to do and being his presence here.
With that realization, a peace has come, knowing that the future is in good hands and they're not mine; that as we work on where God is leading, it will work out. I do hope that for those of you who may face big decisions, those of you who may be wondering about your future, that you will realise that it is in Jesus' hands and that by working hard with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you will be led in the right direction where God will be honoured and you will be blessed.

I need God

Last night I was lying in bed and I was finding it hard to sleep. I kept wondering why the church I'm privileged to be pastor of has such a hard time to keep our young adults and reach out into our community is a more significant way. Being who I am, I kept trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, why my leadership wasn't good enough or strong enough, and suddenly a light went off in my head, thankfully only in my head as my wife was sleeping right beside me, my thinking was way too me-focused. The light bulb didn't go off to let myself off the hook on my responsibilities as the pastor to work hard and faithfully, but it did shine a light on the fact that there are so many other things involved in why our young adults don't stay and why we only attract a few families every year instead of growing in leaps and bounds.
My thoughts started down a different road instead, wondering, why do I need God? Now it's not like things are so horrible for me and my family, we have our struggles as mentioned in previous blogs, but over-all, life is pretty good. My kids are mostly healthy and basically finding happiness even if life hasn't always gone the ways they had expected. Over Christmas and New Years we had most of our kids and grand-kids home, and were able to talk with our other son on Christmas. I'm healthy and happy and God has given me a glass half full way of seeing life along with a pretty hearty laugh, or so I've been told :), so on the outside, it seems as if God doesn't need to be a high priority for me outside of the fact that I am a pastor!! and as a pastor I spend my time preaching about who God is and extending Jesus' invitation to follow Him, teaching about God, encouraging people to open their hearts to the Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit to shape their lives, hearts and minds.
Yet as I was lying in bed, I realised just how much I need God. I need God because without God, I'm pretty scared of what might lie ahead in life. Many fellow pastors I know have been forced to leave their churches because things went bad, often fairly quickly; the family my daughter works for was devastated the other day when the father was in a car accident and he and their son are now seriously injured in the hospital and it doesn't necessarily look good right now; Quebec often feels like a mess right now and it's not always a pleasure to live in such a dysfunctional society; and these are just some of the things that make me realize that life is so often out of my control. As a pastor, I hear of too many relationships, whether marriages, family or friendships that are broken and filled with pain and while I can listen and pray for them and offer advice and guidance as I walk with them, ultimately there is little I can really do to make things different. Over my sabbatical I worked with a counsellor who helped me work through a few issues in my own head and heart, and this week I'm preaching on repentance and I see the sin filled and influenced part of who I am, and it hits me all over again, how much I need God because even in repentance, I'm still pretty messed up in so many ways, unable to really change in healthy ways on my own.
Last night I came to see again  that I need God so I can live without fear and with confidence because I can trust that God is in control and that when I stay connected and focused on God and His way, I can move forward with the ability to love and laugh with joy even if from the perspective of others, there may not be much to laugh about or find joy in. I need God, how about you?

Peace on Earth

I would like to wish each of you a Blessed and Merry Christmas. This morning in our time of worship, we looked at the angels' song and the offer of 'Peace on earth.' This peace the angels' sang about is more than just an absence of conflict or war, God's peace is shalom peace. Shalom is peace inside of you; peace with God, peace within the community of God’s people, peace within your heart as you experience forgiveness and reconciliation with God; this is all part of God’s shalom for you. Shalom is about health and wholeness, freedom and renewal, a new life fuller and deeper than the life you are living presently. Shalom is all about God’s favour resting on you, filling you with his presence and his love. It’s about being drawn closer to God. 
We have a Prince of Peace who came to earth all those years ago. He has the authority, the wisdom, and the power to bring about the true heart shalom kind of peace. The shalom Jesus brings puts the creation back in balance so that the whole of creation can live and flourish and be in perfect relationship, like we were created to be.
This is a peace I yearn for, especially this year as I watch two of my children go through marriage break-ups, I see hurt all too often, and I realize more and more the wonder of God's gift of peace through Jesus Christ. I pray that you will experience God's shalom peace today and each day.

Church as family

This morning I noticed my daughter had posted on Facebook a thank you to my wife and I for being her parents and for loving her and her son. There's a whole long story there, but Melissa and Real are a huge blessing to us and our family wouldn't be the same without them. God uses many different ways to create families and ours has grown in different ways than most others. Yet at the end of the day, we are family and I can't imagine our family in any other shape or way. Every time our family grows I find my ability to love grows deeper and richer, even if I don't always say the words. We make commitments to each other that keep us together even when we disagree, even when the disagreements are "atomic," because we belong together as God has brought us together as family.
This got me to thinking about "church families." Like my family, church families grow in different ways and God uses a variety of methods to bring each "family" together. Likewise, every time our family grows, my/our ability to love grows so that, hopefully I pray, the new members of our church family experience God's love through us. I guess what gets me to thinking about church as a family is what happens when some members decide they no longer want to be part of the family and go looking for a new family. I'm surprised every time by how much this hurts.
Two of my children are going through divorces right now, more long stories, but also very painful. I'm recognizing that this feels a lot like what I feel when others leave our church family for another one. There are feelings of sadness and grief, a wondering why we're not family any more, some anger but also feelings of rejection and a wondering what really happened and why. At the same time I also really hope and pray that they will find a church family where they can become lifelong engaged members, a family to set their roots into.
In my own personal family, because of how God put us together, we made promises, most of them to God, that we would commit to each other no matter what. This has led to some very interesting and intense times in our family, but has also made everyone know they belong and are loved. In church families, similar promises are made to each other, but so many of them are unspoken today, that I wonder if this makes the promises less precious, less strong. I wonder about the migration of Christians between churches and I wonder with my own church family, when family members leave, where I have failed them as pastor. I know the reasons for finding another family are complex and each family believes they are doing what is best for them, yet......? I am also much more aware of the pain of other church families when we have former family members from their churches appear in ours. I often say that churches are funny creatures, something only God could have created, considering how many different kinds of people are found in our church from all over the world and such a great variety of backgrounds.
This isn't meant to be a depressing post as a visitor yesterday mentioned how he enjoyed our church and how people seem to care for each other; it fills me with hope that we are being shaped by our heavenly Father in good ways. We have our moments as a church family where things get interesting, and we cannot be the family for everyone, and it hurts then, but I pray that as we live and love together as a church family with all our warts and faults, that our Father God will continue to work through us to invite and welcome new believers in Jesus into our family so that our love might continue to grow larger and deeper and richer and we might all become committed disciples of Jesus.
During this time of advent as we look at Jesus' first coming and at his return, I am reminded that God is in control and that our church family is blessed because He is in control. I pray that as we work on our love for God and each other, that our church family will reflect God's will and plan for who He is calling us to be.

What do you get out of Christmas?

I'm a sentimental kind of guy, I know, I know that it usually doesn't show, but I like this time of the year with the Christmas music, the tv tear-jerker movies (I confess that I do need to wipe my eyes once in a while), and the decorations that brighten everything up in a celebratory profusion of colour and beauty. I love the focus on family and friends, the meals together and the evenings with a little wine and music and conversations with those close to us.
But what I love more is the challenge we get from God at Christmas. Think about it, Jesus left home to live with us, definitely a step down in living arrangements so God challenges me to live more simply, focusing on my relationships instead of a wish list of more stuff. Jesus came to us vulnerable and depending on Mary and Joseph to keep him safe and provide for him, I'm challenged to be more vulnerable with my family and friends and be humble enough to tell them that I really need them and God too. Jesus came to sacrifice himself and I'm challenged to be more sacrificial in my own life. Jesus came completely focused on God his Father and I'm challenged to be more focused on God my Father and what he expects from me; not even so much in what I do but more in who I'm becoming as his child. Jesus came and loved others and went out of his way to help others and make them feel like they really count and I'm challenged to do the same.
But there are many things Jesus did that I cannot; I cannot forgive my own sins, I need Jesus to do that. I cannot redeem myself from my slavery to the world and its values, from my constant search for gods that I can control instead of following only God the Father, only Jesus can do that. I cannot pay the price for my sins, but Jesus does redeem me and gave me his Spirit to help me keep my eyes and heart on God. For a long time this was something that I accepted as true, but nothing really changed in how I lived because it hadn't reached down into the heart part of me; that sentimental part of who I am. I was basically a nice guy, maybe a bit opinionated at times, sometimes a wise guy, but I always felt there was still something missing inside, that there was more to being a follower of Jesus than being kinder and caring for others.
It's through my children and their struggles that God finally reached into that emotional part and did the real change that comes from accepting Jesus in my heart instead of just my head occurred. I need both the head knowledge and the heart knowledge of Jesus to make a real change in my relationship with God and my understanding of who God is.
My children have the disadvantage of having to put up with me :), but it's more than that. God brought three of our children into our home through fostering and they have had to overcome the neglect and even abuses that they experienced before they became part of our family. They've all wrestled with big emotional and spiritual stuff, but I've watched how in all their struggles, they've made their way, or are making their way to Jesus and finding strength and even hope on the way. In their walk towards Jesus my own heart was reached as I see more and more that Jesus came also to turn our world upside down and bring not only forgiveness, but healing, reconciliation, meaning, purpose and depth to our lives. What I've found is peace no matter what is going on, and a deeper trust that we are not alone as we go through life. I am able to accept those verses that talk about God working all things for our good, even the hard things like watching our children wrestle hard with relationships and life because I know that Jesus came so that we never need to walk alone, and that includes my children.
I get all this out of Christmas, how about you, what do you get out of Christmas?